I am reviewing The Spongebob Musical UK Tour matinee performance on the 12th August 2023 at the Southbank Centre, London.
I had high hopes when I saw that The Spongebob Musical was playing at the Southbank Centre in London this summer and knew that my inner child would love to see the show! I remember growing up watching hours of Sponge Squarepants and his shenanigans with his friends, Patrick, Sandy, Mr Krabbs and Squidward. I was always delighted to receive a VHS tape in the post from my Grandfather, who would record new episodes for me to enjoy. So my expectations were high and my open mindedness knew no bounds. However, I was hugely disappointed. This show was boring. I have never left a theatre show half way and sadly I’ve broken my streak and left. The show felt like it was a fever dream on steroids and at moments I couldn’t actually understand what was even happening.
The Good and the Bad
The Southbank Centre, Elizabeth Hall is a small venue in comparison to many theatres and the stage is also relatively small. I know this for a fact when I walked across the stage for my graduation ceremony that there isn’t a lot of space. This being said I think the space could have been used more effectively with bigger and bolder sets and costume designs. My biggest problem with the performance was the sound and the enunciation of words during songs and speech. I think the words blurred into one another that wasn’t helped by the fake American accents. This is a problem with many musicals because the cast are trained to shout and scream the lyrics that make it inaudible. There were good elements to the songs such as Plankton’s evil scheming, when the going gets tough get lost. The songs just weren’t catchy even if I could hear the lyrics, but that being said the inclusion of a live band was an atmospheric touch. These members were merge into the staging to give this seamless blend. I think with tweaking the music could help the audience follow along with the plot or even dialogue.
The set included the iconic Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket, Spongebob’s pineapple, Patrick’s rock and Squidward’s house. These were basic with just the outside to give an illusion of being under the sea in Bikini Bottom. Gary the snail was a plush toy wheeled onto the stage, could it have hurt just to have someone dress up as the snail? I mean we did get a sardine choir – a little weak to use a toy. I would have liked more props, such as tables in the Krusty Krabs to bring the change in setting alive. There were some points where I wasn’t sure where the scenes were taking place. I think props and other items would have helped suspend belief. Furthermore, many of the character costumes could have been bolder with many characters like Mrs Puff not really embodying her comedic and anxious tendencies. I also would have liked to see Sandy’s costume include an illusion to her oxygen helmet that continues to differentiate herself from the sea creatures. A big shout out to Divina De Campo for her spectacular performance as Plankton and commanded the stage that had me eagerly awaiting her return at every turn. Divina encapsulated the evil tendencies of Plankton that I loved so much, and Karen his computer wife played by Hannah Lowther created a comedic duo that saved many of the scenes.
The show wasn’t all bad in the premise, but I think there were many attempts to create a serious production with hints of panto. I wanted it to be very over-the-top and making fun of the bizarreness of Bikini Bottom. Bigger and daring costumes would have helped this and creating audience interactions throughout the show to keep attention.
I was bored by the first half hour and I could see many children in the audience becoming restless, with some viewers not returning after the interval. The first half of show was an intense barrage of songs and ballads that didn’t allow for much breathing space in between songs. This was very heavy going and the first half was far too long running at around 1 hour. As a show by its nature will draw families with young children to watch, this needs to be shorter. I was in two minds whether to leave in the interval and not return, but decided to see if things heated up in the second half. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I made my departure 20 minutes into the second half as it was ballads after another. Not the pace I would expect from a high action and intense performance that was promised.
Final thoughts
The show was not terrible but something was missing. There were many plot lines happening at once that were disjointed with Plankton’s plan to hypnotise the townspeople, the impedning doom of the volcano, Squidward’s desire for stage domination and Mr Krabbs and Pearls breakdown in family relations. The show attempted to grasp some of the key elements from the characters but failed to cohesively merge this into a plot. After the interval there was an opportunity for one child in the audience to win a prize. This activity consisted of the audience screaming the loudest and then winning a prize. However the pirates who were initiating this activity only walked to the first three rows in the stalls, when there were plenty of young families in the rear. One child in the first three rows won. There was no attempt to run to the back again. This was cruel as I saw many children crying that they were not noticed by the cast. Another note that is not the fault of the cast, but the event organsiers – they ran out of merchandise the previous day. This meant there were no brochures and only a small programme and no pin sets. I’m not sure about the stock level of the other items but this is poor during a busy weekend two show day. Overall, I felt bad for leaving half way but I was bored and couldn’t stand to sit through another song being screamed. I wanted this to be fun and light-hearted, but for this to be done it needed bigger and elaborated costumes where the details could be visually seen at the back of the theatre and funny jokes where the actors didn’t take themselves too seriously.
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